Taylor Swift has shocked and delighted fans by announcing a surprise album, set to release at the stroke of midnight (July 24).
Titled folklore and marking her eighth studio set, the project is comprised of 16 tracks, with a bonus edition including one more. The country-turned-pop superstar says she was compelled to write and record the project while in quarantine, pouring all of her “whims, dreams, fears, and musings” into it and working with some bucket-list collaborators. And in distinctly non-Swift fashion, she decided to release the mysterious album as soon as possible, rather than craft the perfect launch plan.
“Most of the things I had planned this summer didn’t end up happening, but there is something I hadn’t planned on that DID happen,” she said on Instagram. “Before this year I probably would’ve overthought when to release this music at the ‘perfect’ time, but the times we’re living in keep reminding me that nothing is guaranteed. My gut is telling me that if you make something you love, you should just put it out into the world.”
The album artwork features a mystical-feeling forest, with Swift dressed in a long overcoat and delicate dress to give a fairy-like impression. In honor of her eighth release, she’ll offer fans eight different deluxe versions in CD and vinyl formats, with different art and photos in each which. And she’s also announced the release of the project’s first music video, dropping the self-written and directed clip for “Cardigan” tonight as well.
folklore is Swift’s first album since 2019’s Lover, and arrives on the same weekend she had planned to perform the second of only two American stadium shows this year.
